In the context of digital data storage, advances in storage capacity and reliability continue to be ever-present design goals. In that context, magnetic tape continues to be a cost-efficient and reliable storage medium for non-volatile data storage. Conventional magnetic tape heads typically include tape head elements, i.e., very small magnetic read-write transducers, formed from films that are deposited over a substrate. Such tape head elements are commonly fabricated using thin film wafer technology, including machining the elements to a desired height by a process referred to as lapping. For magnetic tape heads that have a magneto-resistive reader element, the desired height is commonly referred to as the “stripe height”, and for the writer element, the “throat height”.
Improvements in magnetic tape head technology are achievable, such as in data storage capacity, based on improvements in tape head manufacturing processes. Precise control of the critical dimensions of the reader element (e.g., the stripe height) and the writer element (e.g., the throat height), by way of lapping, is commonly practiced and is a fundamental manufacturing process. For optimum yield, performance and stability, precise dimensional control over both the reader and/or writer elements is desirable.
Any approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.